Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member Latest Breaking News General Discussion The DU Lounge All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

steve2470

steve2470's Journal
steve2470's Journal
September 5, 2018

'Frat boy': Alex Jones taunts Rubio in tense Senate standoff

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/09/05/marco-rubio-alex-jones-clash-808374

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and InfoWars host Alex Jones clashed outside a Senate Intelligence committee hearing today, with the lawmaker saying he’d “take care of” Jones as the far-right provocateur mockingly called him a “little gangster thug" and "frat boy."

Rubio, addressing reporters outside the hearing room, was badgered with questions by Jones, who made a surprise appearance at the Senate hearing devoted to foreign interference on social media.

The exchange quickly went downhill when the senator warned the conspiracy-peddling host, who was standing beside him in the hallway, to “not touch me again.”

“I’m just patting you nicely,” Jones responded, before accusing Rubio of trying to get him arrested.

Rubio rebuffed the charge, adding: “I’ll take care of you myself.”

"Rubio just threatened to physically take care of me," Jones replied, an insinuation that Rubio disputed.
September 5, 2018

Study: Telecoms have been throttling YouTube and Netflix since demise of net neutrality

https://marketingland.com/study-telecoms-have-been-throttling-youtube-and-netflix-since-demise-of-net-neutrality-247346

The throttling has begun in earnest. According to a report from Bloomberg based on a study from Northeastern University and the University of Massachusetts, telecom companies have taken advantage of the end of net neutrality to begin slowing delivery of video and data.

If the practice continues and expands, it could cause consumers to watch or finish less video. In that case, completions and ad exposures might be affected. That’s the immediate implication for marketers and why they should be concerned.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) passed net neutrality in 2015 during the Obama administration. The Republican-controlled FCC formally abolished it in June.

Netflix and YouTube so far have been the primary targets of the telecoms:

Among U.S. wireless carriers, YouTube is the No. 1 target of throttling, where data speeds are slowed, according to the data. Netflix Inc.’s video streaming service, Amazon.com Inc.’s Prime Video and the NBC Sports app have been degraded in similar ways, according to David Choffnes, one of the study’s authors who developed the Wehe app.
September 5, 2018

On CNN they've had two guests now trying desperately to discredit Woodward's book

Newsmax publisher is Trump's friend, he had his BS going. It was either excusing Trump's obvious incompetence and nastiness, or saying or implying Woodward had it wrong. Of course he brings up that no one so far is willing to go public and admit they actually said what they said to Woodward.

Some Trump staffer was just on with Chris Cuomo, and he was spinning furiously that everyone so far is chickening out and not owning their words and basically accusing Woodward of lying or making shite up, etc etc.

I mean, come on, if they were gutsy enough to go public with this scandal, they already would have. Of course they are going to lie and deny it or partially deny it in Kelly's case.

Expect much more of this in the days ahead. They will attack Woodward any way they can.

eta: Now Scaramucci the Mooch is making excuses for him.

September 4, 2018

Why Is Lisa Blatt Endorsing Brett Kavanaugh?

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/09/why-is-lisa-blatt-endorsing-brett-kavanaugh.html

On Tuesday, Lisa Blatt—a self-described “liberal feminist lawyer”—will endorse the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Blatt is a SCOTUS superstar who has argued 35 cases before the court, more than any other woman. She has won 32 of them, an astonishing record for any advocate. Blatt clerked for Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and frequently supports progressive litigation pro bono; in March, she filed an influential (though ultimately unsuccessful) amicus brief in opposition to Donald Trump’s travel ban. Yet she is now backing the nomination of Kavanaugh, who will surely rule against her in virtually every liberal case she brings to the court. Why?

The answer is simple: Blatt works at Arnold and Porter, an elite law firm that often represents wealthy corporations. To its credit, the firm funds pro bono ventures that permit its luminaries, like Blatt, to pursue progressive causes. But it will always, always value capital over justice. The needs of its paying clients will take priority over the interests of its pro bono practice every single time. That is the cardinal rule of Big Law, and it should come as no surprise that Blatt is playing this nomination by the books.

I do not mean to suggest that firms like Arnold and Porter are cynical or unscrupulous because they represent large corporations while simultaneously defending the rights of the powerless. It is entirely noble for the firm to devote a substantial portion of its immense funds to social justice groups and indigent defendants. Credit where it’s due: A&P attorneys have represented death row inmates and victims of discrimination in employment, education, and housing. Blatt herself argued a landmark case that persuaded a federal appeals court to prohibit peremptory challenges to gay jurors on the basis of their sexual orientation. The firm encourages its lawyers to devote 15 percent of their time to pro bono work, and the country is a better place for it.

But these cases aren’t the bread and butter of A&P’s practice. The firm makes its money by representing corporations like BP (which A&P defended following the Deepwater Horizon spill), Exxon Mobil, Monsanto, Novartis, Pfizer, and Philip Morris. (Blatt’s own attorney profile boasts that she helped to overturned the “reinstatement of $10 billion verdict against client Philip Morris in a ‘lights’ cigarette case.”) A&P also represents businesses rather than workers in labor disputes and specializes in breaking up class actions.


FWIW. She is testifying for Kavanaugh right now.
September 4, 2018

Facebook's former security chief: US elections at risk of being 'World Cup of information warfare'

https://money.cnn.com/2018/09/04/technology/us-elections-disinformation-alex-stamos/index.html

After three years in the trenches of Facebook's war against disinformation, Alex Stamos brings bad news from the front: US elections are at risk of becoming the "World Cup of information warfare."

"That campaign to drive wedges into American society has not stopped. If anything, it has intensified," Stamos told CNN recently.

Stamos is not an alarmist. He has spent the better part of the past two decades in the digital security business, most recently as the head of information security at Facebook. Before that, he spent a few years at Yahoo — where, among other things, he warned US lawmakers about the impact of online advertising on data security and privacy. He has over the years earned a reputation for speaking his mind, and at one point challenged Michael Rogers, head of the National Security Agency at the time, on the finer points of data encryption.

His warning comes as Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg and other tech leaders are set to appear before the Senate Intelligence Committee. The panel, led by Republican Richard Burr and Democrat Mark Warner, wants to know just what Facebook, Twitter, Google, and others are doing to safeguard November's midterm elections against the sort of disinformation campaigns that peppered their platforms in 2016.
September 4, 2018

Chuck Todd: Limbaugh, Drudge, Fox hosts 'exploiting the fears of older white people'

http://thehill.com/homenews/media/404866-chuck-todd-limbaugh-drudge-fox-hosts-exploiting-the-fears-of-older-white

NBC News anchor Chuck Todd is blaming Roger Ailes for creating a hostile environment toward the media, arguing in a new op-ed that the late Fox News chairman and CEO, along with Rush Limbaugh, Matt Drudge and current Fox hosts Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson and Laura Ingraham, are "exploiting the fears of older white people" in an effort to gain more wealth and power.

The "Meet the Press" host also said in The Atlantic that "there's a new kind of campaign underway" to "destroy the legitimacy of the American news media" that has made reporters targets of animosity not seen since the segregated South.

"Antipathy toward the media right now has risen to a level I’ve never personally experienced before. The closest parallel in recent American history is the hostility to reporters in the segregated South in the 1950s and '60s," Todd wrote.

"Then, as now, that hatred was artificially stoked by people who found that it could deliver them some combination of fame, wealth, and power," he added.
September 4, 2018

Toobin: Trump tweet attacking Sessions over indictments 'may be an impeachable offense'

http://thehill.com/homenews/media/404868-toobin-trump-tweet-attacking-sessions-over-indictments-may-be-an-impeachable

CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin said Tuesday that President Trump's attacks against Attorney General Jeff Sessions over charges brought against two GOP lawmakers may be grounds for impeachment.

"This tweet alone may be an impeachable offense," Toobin said on CNN's "New Day." "This is such a disgrace. This is so contrary to the traditions of the Department of Justice."

Toobin added that the public can wear itself out in regards to its outrage over Trump's behavior. But he said that the president's tweet targeting Sessions is different because it "is such an affront to the values of the Justice Department."

"The sentiment at the core of that tweet is so contrary to the mission of the DOJ," he said. "It’s such an insult to the decent people who work there."
September 4, 2018

Fox News' Brit Hume to Trump: Sessions's job 'is not to play goalie for a president'

http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/404849-fox-news-senior-political-analyst-will-trump-ever-learn-that-sessions

Fox News senior political analyst Brit Hume on Monday pushed back on President Trump's tweets knocking Attorney General Jeff Sessions for pursuing charges against a pair of GOP congressmen.

“Will DJT [Donald J. Trump] never learn that an attorney general’s job is not to play goalie for a president or his party, or any party for that matter?” Hume wrote on Twitter, responding to Trump's earlier comments.

https://twitter.com/brithume/status/1036725135032627200


Hume was responding to tweets from the president earlier Monday afternoon that attacked Sessions for bringing criminal charges against two Republican lawmakers who had been Trump's earliest backers in Congress.

Of course Hannity would say Obama!!! and it's ok because....some stupid s**t.

Profile Information

Gender: Do not display
Member since: Sat Oct 16, 2004, 01:04 PM
Number of posts: 37,457
Latest Discussions»steve2470's Journal